8th Annual Peer Tutor and Mentor Summit

Friday, October 27, 2017 | Cortelyou Commons | 10 am - 3 pm

The Peer Tutor and Mentor Summit is a networking and community-building event for peer educators and and their colleagues from across DePaul University. The 2017 Summit will be held on Friday, October 27, and this year’s theme—“Space!”—asks participants to explore the intergalactic world of tutoring and mentoring. Participants are encouraged to embrace the Halloween season and dress up in space-themed costumes and/or accessories!

Round Robin Sessions

One of the defining features of every Peer Tutor and Mentor Summit is a series of interactive “round robin” sessions that touch on some aspect of our work as peer tutors and mentors. A round robin session is a diverse, interactive mini-workshop developed by peer educators for peer educators. Each session runs 15–20 minutes and is repeated between 2–4 times per session. The goal for the round robin sessions is to highlight a variety of tutor and mentor ideas, strategies, and techniques that participants can apply to their own practice. Round robins are also great resume-building, professional development opportunities!

Peer educators at DePaul are invited to submit proposals for round robin sessions, which we encourage you to playfully intersect with this year’s theme. For example, here are a few brainstorming possibilities:

Space comprises many different planets and worlds. How can you adapt to the different “worlds” of students when tutoring/mentoring? How can you identify students’ backgrounds and different learning styles, and how can that impact your tutoring/mentoring strategies?

Staying calm under pressure is not only for astronauts! What can you do as a peer tutor or mentor to promote well-being and strong mental health when you are dealing with a large galaxy of demands?

Sometimes space offers unique and dangerous challenges like black holes or asteroids. What unique challenges do you face as a peer tutor or mentor? What strategies do you use to overcome those challenges?

Those who explore space utilize many tools—telescopes, constellation maps, etc. What tools enable you to work effectively as a peer tutor or mentor? What new tools might take you further? How can you innovatively use your tools to explore new perspectives?

If you could explore a new planet that has the most ideal tutors or mentors on it, what would that look like? What qualities or characteristics would these tutors or mentors possess? How can you bring some of those ideas to DePaul?

Round Robin Proposal Workshops

To help you with the round robin proposal writing process, we invite you to participate in a round robin proposal writing workshop. As any peer educator knows, two heads are better than one! It’s also a great opportunity to brainstorm your proposal and make friends in DePaul’s peer tutor and mentor community before the Summit! Workshops will be held in the Learning Commons during the following times—feel free to drop by at any point:

Friday, September 29, 10 am - 12 pm

Friday, October 6, 1 - 3 pm

The Learning Commons is located in the first floor of the John T. Richardson Library in Lincoln Park.

Submitting a Robin Proposal

Round robin proposals are due by Friday, October 13. Once you are ready to submit your round robin proposal, you can do so online via this website. The round robin committee will be in touch regarding your proposal the week of October 20.

Keynote Speaker: Levi Baer

To Levi Baer, a perfect world is one in which everyone has access to the resources needed to advance their ideas and projects. He is solving this challenge using games, entrepreneurship, and community building. Currently, he is an instructor of Entrepreneurship and Communication Studies at DePaul University, a co-founder of the neighborhood-focused coworking space Second Shift, and the founder of the startup community Coffee & Conversation.

Levi has a Masters in Organizational and Multicultural Communication from DePaul University, is a certified Myers-Briggs practitioner, and an avid board-gamer. For the past four years he has worked as an independent team-building consultant, using games and personality type to facilitate inclusive, collaborative, and productive group outcomes. He has had the pleasure of working with organizations such as Groupon, Bosch International, and The Chicago Public Library.

Agenda

9:30 - 10:00 am

Check-in and breakfast

10:00 - 10:05 am

Welcoming remarks

10:05 - 11:05 am

Keynote

11:05 - 11:10 am

Round Robin 1 Set-up

11:10 am - 12:30 pm

Round Robin 1

12:30 - 1:15 pm

Lunch

1:15 - 1:20 pm

Round Robin 2 Set-up

1:20 - 2:40 pm

Round Robin 2

2:40 - 2:55 pm

Reflection

2:55 - 3:00 pm

Closing remarks

Frequently Asked Questions

No. The event is designed with various activities spread throughout the day to allow attendees to arrive and depart as needed. We realize that many DePaul programs hold Friday events. Some attendees in past years have slipped out for an early afternoon meeting and returned to the Summit while barely missing a beat.​

​Absolutely not! While we encourage university staff members and administrators to attend, the focus of the event is on the peer tutors, advisors, and mentors at DePaul. We invite any office involved in tutoring, advising, or mentoring to encourage their student staff to attend, whether the professional staff is attending or not.​

﻿Yes! After all, that's what the event is for. The day is filled with opportunities for networking and information sharing, including the round robin sessions. Breakfast and lunch is also a great way to network with tutors and mentors from other offices .

Round robins are interactive 20 minute "mini-workshops" similar to conference roundtable sessions. You choose a topic related to the theme and your work and facilitate participants' discussion and reflection. ​

No. While every office is encouraged to submit a proposal for a round robin session, this is not required in order to participate in the event. The day is set up to allow every office to share their experiences and ideas whether they host one of these sessions or not.

Past Summits

2016 Video Recap

Photo Gallery

A round robin session being led by peer educators in 2015.

Peer educators leading a round robin session in 2014.

Engaging round robbin sessions from 2013's Summit.

Peer educators ​working collaboratively during 2012's event.

​Elizabeth Coughlin introduces one of the first Peer Tutor and Mentor Summits.

Contact

If you have any questions or concerns, please email Jen Finstrom at jfinstro [at] depaul.edu.

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Share Your Takeaways

Use the hashtag #TutorStars to share your insights and observations from the day.

Lunch and Learn

Lunch will be included, so bring your good ideas and healthy appetite.